Creating a final, print-quality PDF from FrameMaker documents can be an involved, multi-step process. We thought it would be useful to capture all relevant considerations and steps in a single handbook that could be immediately put to use in real-world situations.

The following sections are included in this handbook:

Relevant scenario

Prerequisites

Important considerations

Equip yourself with relevant details

Stage 0: Prepare the content

Stage 1: Clean up the source

Stage 2: Prepare the book and create PDF

Stage 3: Test the PDF

Stage 4: Prepare the PDF for publication

Stage 5: Optimize the PDF in Acrobat

Appendix: Best practices for using conditional text

Appendix: Keeping track of content changes across versions in a collaborative environment

Sometimes, when you insert a cross-reference to a paragraph, the first word in the paragraph is conditional. The cross-reference marker that FrameMaker inserts then also becomes conditional and takes the condition tag settings of the first word. This marker is hidden when you hide the conditions of the first word. As a result, if the condition-tag settings of the cross-reference and of the cross-reference marker differ, you end up with a mysterious unresolved cross-reference!

Consider the screenshot below. Here, the first word in the cross-referenced paragraph is conditional. However, since all conditions are currently displayed, the Cross-References pod in FrameMaker 9 shows the corresponding cross-reference as resolved.

Now, consider the illustration below. Once the condition for the first word of the cross-referenced paragraph is hidden, the Cross-References pod indicates that the corresponding cross-reference is broken.

To avoid this situation, select just the cross-reference marker at the beginning of the source paragraph, and make it unconditional. This way, the marker will always be visible. The cross-reference will now be resolved regardless of the conditions visible.

See this Help article to understand how you can apply or remove conditional tags to text. For greater insight into issues that you may face while working with conditional text, see this overview article, especially the Planning conditional documents section.

It can be challenging to fix broken cross-references in long documents — 500 pages, for example. Resolving the cross-reference(s) in the source FrameMaker file and then generating the PDF all over again isn’t the only way out. With Acrobat, you can easily fix broken cross-references in the PDF itself. Here’s how:

In Acrobat 9, click Tools > Advanced Editing > Link Tool.

Double-click a highlighted cross-reference.

On the Action page in the Link Properties dialog, select Go to a page view from the Select Action drop-down menu. Click Add.